FLATOUT - Niagara Region Porsche Club of AmericaFlatout Advertising Sue Juby 95 Alton Way (585) 321-0304 [email protected] Webmaster Club of America. Statements appearing in

Flatout Cover from 1963

N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E N I A G A R A R E G I O N P O R S C H E C L U B O F A M E R I C A

February 2012

FLATOUT

Coming Events Page 3

Presidents Message Page 4

Members Stats Page 5

Remembering Norm Oliver Page 6

Happy Hours Page 9

New Porsche Intro at Barber Porsche Page 11

There’s going to be a new addition to our family Page 12

Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Page13

Instructor Development Program Page 15

Niagara On The Road Page 16

Beachwood Page 18

2012 Planning Meeting Page 21

Where The Hell Are We? Page 22

Technically Speaking! Page 24

Historic Poster Page 3

Picture Page Page 48

February Puzzles Page 49

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EXECUTIVE BOARD

President

Jim Arendt

780 Washington Street

Spencerport, NY 14559

Cell# (585) 749-2786

[email protected]

Vice President –

Tom Lyons

25 Tyburn Way

Rochester, NY 14610

585-381-8535

[email protected]

Secretary

Mike Cohn

7 Round Trail Drive

Pittsford, NY 14534

Tel# (585) 385-8828

[email protected]

Treasurer

Rich DeAsis

2 North Clinton Street

Dansville, NY 14437

Cell (585) 750-4231

[email protected]

CHAIRPERSONS

Membership

Curt Hinchcliffe

5 Black Watch Trail

Fairport, NY 14450

tel# (585)-314-8506

[email protected]

Social Events

Bill Schicker

20 Edendery Circle

Fairport, NY 14450

Tel# (585)-377-1495

[email protected]

And Sue Juby

95 Alton Way

W Henrietta, NY 14586

(585) 321-0304

[email protected]

DE Chairperson

Bert Xander

10 Lavender Circle

Fairport, NY 14450

tel# (585)-388-1431

[email protected]

Driver Ed Registrar

Curt Hinchcliffe

5 Black Watch Trail

Fairport, NY 14450

tel# (585)-314-8506

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor

Tom Lyons

25 Tyburn Way

Rochester, NY 14610

585-381-8535

[email protected]

Flatout Advertising

Sue Juby

95 Alton Way

W Henrietta, NY 14586

(585) 321-0304

[email protected]

Webmaster

Jim Arendt

780 Washington Street

Spencerport, NY 14559

Cell# (585) 749-2786

[email protected]

Published monthly

Statement of Policy: FLATOUT is the official publication of the Niagara Region Inc., Porsche Club of America. Statements appearing in FLATOUT are those of the author and do not con-stitute an opinion of the Niagara Region Inc., Por-sche Club of America, FLATOUT, or its staff. The editors reserve the right to edit as necessary all materials submitted for publication. Permission is granted to reproduce any material published in FLATOUT provided full credit is given to the au-thor or photographer and to FLATOUT.

Page 2 FEBRUARY 2012

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

UPCOMING EVENTS


COMING UP NEXT MONTH

March 1-4 – Club Booth @ Rochester Auto Show

March 6 – Monthly Member’s Meeting

March 14 – Happy Hour, Buffalo

Click the button below to see website for event details.

UPCOMING HAPPY HOURS

Join club members and fellow Porsche owners for Happy Hour!

Wednesday, March 14, 7:00pm at QUAKER STEAK & LUBE, 6727 Transit Rd., Buffalo

The formats are purely social and dutch treat. See you there!

CLUB BOOTH @ ROCHESTER AUTO SHOW

Come visit the Niagara PCA booth at the Rochester International Auto Show to be held March 1-4.

Anyone interested in volunteering at the booth please contact Curt Hinchcliffe. More info on our web site

Visit us at www.NiagaraPCA.org

Don’t Miss Any NRPCA Social Events

Sign up for Sue Juby’s

E-mail notifications by sending

Sue an e-mail to: [email protected]

http://www.NiagaraPCA.orgmailto:[email protected]://www.niagarapca.org/events?month=3&year=2012

President’s Message


Our 2012 Event Calendar is filling quickly with a comprehensive offering of social, track, and tech-nical events and activities to satisfy every Porschephile’s needs. It is still early and the calendar is not complete though, so keep checking our calendar for additions as plans come together and de-tails get posted. Close to 50 club members attended our February 19 Planning Meeting where we discussed the upcoming driving season. It is great to see so many active members; many thanks to all who at-tended. Our 2012 Membership Challenge started off with a bang. With the goal of increasing our membership ranks by adding 27 new members by year’s end, January alone saw an increase of 7 – welcome new members! At this rate we may need to reevaluate and raise our goal, which would be a great thing! Planning for our 50th Anniversary Party in June is coming along great. We picked up three new sponsors in the past week who chose to partner with us for our region’s largest Porsche party ever. Please support our very generous sponsors who’s ads can be found in this issue of Flatout: The Tint Shop, Bernstein Global, Watkins Glen International, Griot’s Garage, and Stoddards Porsche Parts. Register for the party now so you don’t miss the opportunity to win amazing door prizes courtesy of our sponsors. We are always in search of additional sponsors so if you or your business would like to explore this oppor-tunity please give me a shout. As we look forward to the fast approaching driving season, give our Event Calendar a look and come join us. You can’t beat the Niagara PCA for fun and affordable entertainment! Take care, Jim

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Want to advertise your business in Flatout? Well now you can. Contact

Sue Juby at [email protected] for details and cost options.

Don’t forget to send me your stories and pictures. There is no Flatout

without them.

Tom Lyons

Editor Flatout

NRPCA Members Report


February ’12 Members Report

Member Stats

Primary Members 380

Affiliate Members 273

Life Members 1

Transfers in 1

Transfers out 1

Renewals 17

Non renewals 5

Total Members 654 another new record

Welcome To Our New February Members –

England, Christopher

McStravick, John P.

Mollenberg, Van

Smith, Bruce W.

FEBRUARY PCA ANNIVERSARIES

10 Years

Thomas Maturski

David Rodman

1 Year

John Armstrong

Jack Bottoms

Mike Fitzpatrick

Dean Meli

Remembering Norm Oliver



By

Sue Reesen

Photos by Sue Reesen and Tom Lyons

It is with deepest regret and profound sadness that I have to inform the club of the passing of Norm Oliver, one of our dearest members. Norm passed away unexpectedly, on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. Norm and his wife Barb have been regular attendees of many of our social events as well as hosting events in their home. Norm was generous, fun loving and delightful, one of my favorite people to spend time with at club events. He will be missed.

The family will be present to receive friends on Monday, February 13th, from 2-4 and 7-9 PM in the Chapel of the OTTO REDANZ FUNERAL HOME, 2215 Military Road, Niagara Falls, NY (297-9007), where a funeral ser-vice will be held on Tuesday, February 14th at 11:00 AM with his son-in-law, Mark Dailey officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial offerings may be made to Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, Barbara and Norman Oliver Endowment Fund for Melanoma Research, Elm & Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting us at www.ottoredanz.com and www.niagara-gazette.com/obituaries

The information below on Norm was copied from the The Niagara Gazette:

http://niagara-gazette.com/obituaries/x1704536300/Norman-Cleveland-Oliver

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

February 10, 2012

Norman Cleveland Oliver

Anonymous Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Fri Feb 10, 2012, 05:44 PM EST

LEWISTON — Norman Cleveland Oliver, 75, of Lewiston, NY, passed away, unexpectedly, on Wednesday, February 8, 2012. Born on June 14, 1936 in Warren, MI, he was the son of the late Galen Franklin and Audrey Emma (Bricker) Oliver, Sr.

Mr. Oliver was raised and attended schools in Warren, MI. Norman's mother died at a young age and he began working to help the family by making his own ice cream cart to pull with his bicycle and sell ice cream. He worked for Squirt Bottling Company in Detroit, MI and L&L Manufacturing Company in VanDyke, MI, where he met his wife, Barbara, through mutual friends and family. On June 19, 1954, Mr. Oliver married the former Bar-bara Ann Bayer in Detroit, MI. Norman was employed for Ocean Chemicals, in VanDyke, MI, as a Plant Manag-er and was transferred to Niagara Falls, NY in 1961 to facilitate and manage the opening of a new plant for Ocean Chemicals. In 1968, he graduated and received a degree in Chemistry from Erie County Technical Insti-tute. Mr. Oliver was transferred to Savannah, GA, with Ocean Chemicals, in 1974. In January of 1975, Norman and his wife, Barbara, started their own business, Flame Control Coatings, Inc. and then moved their business from Savannah, GA to Niagara Falls, NY in 1976. He was President and founder of Flame Control Coatings, Inc. located on Hyde Park Boulevard in Niagara Falls, NY. The business became a Fortune 500 Company, manufacturing under the Flame Control label and private labeled fire retardant paints and coatings for Sherwin-Williams, Glidden Coatings and Pratt & Lambert, among others. In 2005, Mr. Oliver sold the company and re-tired.



Mr. Oliver was the owner and founder of Oliver's Classic and Vintage Cars. Norman was an avid car collector and enthusiast. He was a member of Niagara Falls Freewheelers, Auburn Cord Dusenberg Club, Inc., The Rolls-Royce Owners' Club, Inc., Classic Car Club of America, The Edsel Club, Niagara Packard, Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club International, Porsche Club of America, Stutz Automobile Club, Mustang Club of Florida and the National Rifle Association. Norman was a devoted member of the Church of Christ and served as former Elder at the St. Catharines Church of Christ in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He was a loving and devoted hus-band. A deeply loving father and grandfather. A man of deep faith who loved God. He was a humble and un-pretentious man. Norman liked to give to others but enjoyed being anonymous - he wanted to give like God had given to him. He valued his family and friends, and was a gentle man. He loved to laugh and play practical jokes on people and was genuine. Norman loved to fix things - "His Way!" Mr. Oliver and Barbara enjoyed trav-eling and had traveled the world from the Far East to Alaska to the Caribbean. One of his favorite places was the "one happy island" of Aruba. Norman and Barbara's first visit to the island of Aruba was to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and since that time, they have spent many happy, wonderful times in their home at Tierra del Sol.

In addition to his beloved wife, Barbara, of 57 years, Mr. Oliver is survived by three daughters, Audrey (Mark) Oliver Dailey of Chester, VA, Lori (Robert) Thomas-Manera of Houston, TX and Amy Jo (Ricky) Lefebvre-Loughrey of Fort Meyers Beach, FL; three grandsons, Michael David Thomas, Richard Aaron Thomas and Isaac Norman Lefebvre; one brother, Galen Franklin Oliver, Jr. of Lapeer, MI; two step-sisters; two step-brothers and many nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, Norman was predeceased by one brother, Jack Oliver.

The family will be present to receive friends on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9 PM in the Chapel of the OTTO REDANZ FUNERAL HOME, 2215 Military Road, Niagara Falls, NY (297-9007), where a funeral service will be held on Tuesday, February 14th at 11:00 AM with his son-in-law, Mark Dailey officiating. In lieu of flowers, me-morial offerings may be made to Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, Barbara and Norman Oliver Endowment Fund for Melanoma Research, Elm & Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting us at www.ottoredanz.com and www.niagara-gazette.com/obituaries.

FEBRUARY 2012

Rochester Happy Hour


Photo collage by Sue Reesen

FEBRUARY 2012

FEBRUARY 2012

“There’s going to be a new addition to our family.”

By

Elizabeth Lyons

“There’s going to be a new addition to our family.”

Such chilling words, especially to the youngest child. Everyone knows that being the youngest is the best. You NEVER get in trouble. You get extra things because you’re cute and you’re last, and all of a sudden it’s gone. All the benefits are just wiped away. Does it matter that you’re in college and not living at home anymore? No. All that matters is that your place as the youngest has been

filled.

You would hope that the changes would be gradual, but it all happens so fast. Your parents are smiling more, and are filling photo albums with new pictures. Pictures that don’t include you. Pictures of fun trips they take with their “baby” all over the state. You are never invited on these trips; after all, you’re not the baby anymore. There’s no room for you. The hours they spend making sure their new baby is always looking fantastic, as you stand waiting for your mom to do all the laundry you lovingly packed and brought all the way from college. (Can you guess who will end up doing the laundry? It won’t be your mom, or the new “baby.”) Your parents ask you how college is going, but you realize they aren’t really paying attention to the answer. They are staring at the “baby” and politely nodding as your words fade into the background. You ask yourself, “What is happening? I don’t understand. I used to be the center of attention. Now they don’t even know I’m here!” Understand- You are no longer the baby. You will never be

the center of attention again.

You start thinking crazy thoughts, trying to find ways to once again regain the focus of their attention. You literally fall down in front of them to regain their focus, but apparently you fall too close to their baby. Instead of checking you for bumps and

bruises, they are checking their baby for scratches in her beautiful red paint job.

You scream, “I DON’T UNDERSTAND! I AM YOUR YOUNGEST! THAT’S JUST A PORSCHE!”

Silence. Your parents stare at you strangely. They look at each other, shrug, and then your father places the key in your

hand.

“See for yourself.”

And you do, and then you get it.

Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona


“This crew works so hard, and we have come so close to the top step of the podium in Grand-Am in the past, but to win for the first time, at this race is something special. Rene and Andy are great guys, and Richard really brought us home strong,” said Potter.

Lietz was pleased that Potter chose him to finish the race, and he thought the field of drivers was especially strong.

“I was honored to carry the team flag to the finish line, and we bested a field of world-class GT drivers,” said Lietz.

For Rene Rast (Germany), the defending Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup champion, it was his first time at Daytona, but the significance of the victory did not escape him.

“To finish at the top with perhaps the greatest GT field ever is an honor, and I thank Porsche and Magnus Rac-ing for allowing me to be involved,” said Rast.

Andy Lally (USA) won this GT event last year, but switched teams this year to join Magnus Racing.

Continued on next page

Magnus Racing Leads Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Sweep of

Rolex 24 at Daytona Podium

Pictures taken from Speed TV rave coverage

Daytona Beach, Fla. --January 29 -- Richard Lietz (Austria), sharing the #44 Magnus Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with John Potter/Andy Lally/Rene Rast, took over the driving duties with less than two hours left to go at the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona. He then guided his car through two pit stops and to the GT victory for the Salt Lake City-based team owned by Potter and led a sweep of the GT podium by Porsche 911 race cars.

In fact, with Lietz, Henzler and Lieb – all Porsche factory drivers - driving their cars to the checkered flag, Porsche Motorsport North America president Jens Walther is espe-cially proud of the Porsche people, not just the race cars.

“With both our customer race car owners and our factory drivers, we have the best people in the motorsports business associated with Porsche, and they are a key part in making our street cars and race cars great,” said Walther, who has been president of Porsche Motorsport North America, Inc. since 2010.

Winning team owner John Potter could not contain his feel-ings in the pit box after the checkered flag dropped, as his team was victorious in one of the greatest sports car races in the world after being in existence less than three years.

24 Hours of Daytona


For Porsche factory driver Wolf Henzler (Germany), qual-ifying woes put their TRG Porsche near the back of the field for the start of the race, but they also led for multiple hours before clutch woes slowed them down near the end.

“My Por-sche col-league Richard Lietz is very fast, and we could not make up any time on the Mag-nus car in the end. But we are happy with our second-place fin-ish, and the TRG crew prepared a Porsche which per-formed great all race,” said Henzler, who won the GT class at Le Mans in

2010.

Alex Job Racing’s WeatherTech Porsche was hit by a prototype, ruining its suspension and other parts – caus-ing a long pit stop and a 17th place finish. Similarly, Fly-ing Lizard Motorsports Porsche lost its power steering (preceeded accident during the night), which put another pre-race favorite at the 15th finishing position.

Continued from previous page

“This was a great victory for John Potter and Magnus, but it is only the first step in our quest for the Rolex Grand-Am GT championship and North American Endurance GT Champi-onship,” said Lally, who will run with Potter for the entire Grand-Am sea-son in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Finishing the Por-sche sweep of the podi-um is the se-cond-place TRG Porsche of Steve

Bertheau/Marc Goosens/Wolf Henzler/Spencer Pumpelly/Jeroen Bleekemolen, and the #59 Brumos Porsche (Leh Keen/Hurley Haywood/Andrew Davis/Marc Lieb) was third. Both teams led for substantial lengths of time during the 24-hour event, but, in the end, both the cars couldn’t catch the Magnus Porsche.

“We ran the whole event flat out, and spent hours and hours in the lead, but we had some front-end body damage that hurt our aerodynamics, and an extra pit stop in the end brought us up a little bit short. Still, we are proud of our Bru-mos drivers and crew, and we won the GT championship last year after finishing fifth, so we will proceed on that mis-sion again,” said Hurley Haywood, five-time Daytona overall winner an current Brumos team manager.

Instructor Development PGM


Rich gave an insightful view of evaluating risks associat-ed with different student situations and how to make the event safer for them and all participants. Lastly, Peter Swift, an experienced instructor, shared his thoughts on "Driver Personality and Profiling" calling on his many years of experience instructing various personalities.

All presenters did a great job in preparing for and deliver-ing relevant material that benefitted both IDP candidates and their instructor mentors. The IDP effort is a great step forward for the Niagara Region DE program - it will continue to be developed throughout the 2012 driving season. Special thanks go out to Ken Buschner for coor-dinating this session and for leading the IDP initiative.

Niagara Region PCA High Performance Driver Education

Instructor Development Program (IDP)

by Bert Xander

The life blood of any driver education program is a large stable of competent and loyal instructors. After all, without instructors, we could not provide the high level of education found at Niagara Region events and we are fortunate to have such a great instructor base. In an effort to expand the

pipeline of new instructors, the Niagara Region kicked off its first Instructor Development Program last year. Led by ex-perienced PCA club racer, Ken Buschner, the program is being developed completely in house by the Niagara Re-gion. I am happy to be a part of the initial class of IDP can-didates.

On Saturday, February 11, 2012 IDP candidates and their "mentor" instructors met at Monroe's restaurant in Rochester for our first formal classroom session away from the race track. This gave the thirteen participants in attendance the opportunity to discuss and absorb the material without the constraints of a hectic drivers education event environment.

Ken started out the session by presenting "The First Morning - How to Approach Your Student". He did a great job de-scribing how to organize for the event, conducting the stu-dent interview, evaluating the student's goals/motivations, and being an "ambassador" for the region. Jim Tulloch, Chief Classroom Instructor, presented "Teaching/Learning Styles and Techniques". Jim has a great knack for breaking down the material in a analytical manner that is always inter-esting. We learned the same approach will not work for each type of learner and the instructor needs to modify his approach based on the student. Rich DeAsis, Niagara Chief Instructor, presented "Risk Assessment & Management".

Niagara On The Road


all considered, can and a lot of times dampen a partici-pants’ enthusiasm.

Our program is designed to mitigate those concerns by

having Niagara make arrangements with an established Club already doing a DE at different venues that we plan on bringing 10-15 drivers to their event. Our participants would sign up directly with those “partner” organizations, thereby alleviating any exposure on Niagara’s side. Once signed up, we as a region would help coordinate plans to “caravan” for the trip down and back. Knowing that your track buddies are doing the same “away” event makes for more fun all around in addition to having a support net-

work to depend on should something go awry along the trip.

Once at the event, our participants can take comfort that there will be people they already know to interact with and share their respective discoveries about the “new” track. For good measure, they can also expect to experi-ence a lot of the Niagara hospitality and camaraderie that they are all too familiar with at our own “home” events.

From a learning perspective, it allows our participants to practice skills they’ve learned at Watkins Glen and apply those same skills at a different venue and offer them a different set of challenges in learning the particulars of a different venue.


NIAGARA ON THE ROAD PROGRAM

By

Rich de Asis

Chief Instructor

During last year’s DE Committee meeting, we kicked around the idea of starting the “Niagara on the Road Pro-gram.” The premise for the idea is simple. We wanted to offer and encourage our DE participants (students and Instructors) to try a different track venue aside from Wat-kins Glen International, our home track.

Though many drivers express the desire to try a different track, there are many barriers that might discourage any-one from doing so. First, it’s intimidating to go to a differ-ent venue, not knowing the sponsoring organization, not knowing anyone else during the DE, and not being quite comfortable that they can tackle a new track, etc. There are social, logistical, technical and learning barriers that

Niagara On The Road



We believe that all of this would provide a “support base” of fellow drivers, reduced intimidation factors, mechanical support and even a trailer should the need arise.

We’re pleased to announce that as of April 10-11th, about 15 of us are committed to visiting VIR and kick off our inaugural Road Trip! We will be participating with David Murry Track Days for a two day event at one of the premier road courses in the country. This first ever Niaga-ra Road Trip is limited to advanced drivers and instruc-tors only, but we are working on another road trip August 17-19 time frame that would be open to all our run groups. We are targeting Mid-Ohio, which is another “must-do” track in conjunction with the Mid-Ohio Region PCA.

In the near term, we are hoping to do two road trips per year visiting other tracks. For subsequent years, we have in mind to visit Mosport, Shannonville, Mt. Tremblant, Calabogie, Lime Rock and Road America, amongst oth-ers. Stay tuned and happy motoring!

Onward,

Rich

Beachwood


ed, but thoroughly impressed with what he had experi-enced and seen. It appears that the two previous Por-sche dealerships in the Cleveland had been sold and closed. In lieu of the two dealerships (one being Stoddard’s) closing, the Penske Automotive Group con-solidated and built what could be described as a shrine relative to Porsche dealerships.

Beachwood Porsche

Dick continued to recount how hospitable and accommo-dating the dealership had been on his impromptu visit, where he had the run of the dealership courtesy of the GM Jason Grimm personally escorting Dick around throughout the enormous facility. Dick also was very im-pressed with spending quite a bit of time with the dealer-ship’s very knowledgeable lead Porsche Certified Techni-cian, Kellen Miller. The icing on the cake was when they threw the keys to a brand new Cayman R for Dick to take out for a spin (figuratively, and not literally of course!J). Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued and wanted to learn more about Dick’s rather exemplary and unique Porsche dealer experience. It’s not like that’s something

we hear about or experienced locally. Addi-tionally, Dick was somewhat insistent that I go see the place for my-self. That did-n’t take too much convinc-ing on Dick’s part.

Entrance to the service bay area


NIAGARA REGION VISITS BEACHWOOD PORSCHE

By

Rich DeAsis

Early in January, Dick Cott paid me a visit at my work-place to discuss possible track car options for him to con-sider for use at our Drivers Education events at the Glen. Dick and I have had a few discussions previously on what might be the most appropriate track vehicle for him in-stead of his Turbo, which he’s not been all to keen to continue using as a track car, being that it’s his favored street car.

One of a kind Cayman R

During the conversation, Dick got very excited in recount-ing a trip he made this past Thanksgiving to visit his son in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Evidently Dick and his son had occasion to visit one of Roger Penske’s newest Por-sche dealerships located in Beachwood, Ohio, just out-side of Cleveland.

President Jim admiring Dick Cott’s new track toy

I could tell from Dick’s account that he was not only excit-

Beachwood


built – didn’t even know they had this special limited ver-sion available; to a one of a kind Orange Cayman R – supposedly the only one in the US; in addition to all sorts of last gen 911’s, Turbos, Turbo cabs, etc.). We also got to examine all the customer cars and race cars that were being worked on. And, we had the special treat of seeing Dick’s newly acquired Guards Red 996 GT3 being track prepped by Kellen!

Rich taking delivery of a 991….wake up Rich!!

Apparently, Dick purchased his long sought after track car from Arizona shortly after our conversation back in January and was so impressed with what he had experi-enced at Beachwood, he had the car shipped from Arizo-na to Beachwood to be prepped. Interestingly, Jim and I saw Dick’s immaculate GT3 before Dick did! Jim was kind to limit his test drive of Dick’s car to only 40 hard miles J! (Jim is still wishing he had…or was that me?)

Beachwood service area



Hearing from Dick about how Beachwood Porsche seemed keen on developing some sort of relationship with the Niagara Region, I enlisted President Jim to ac-company me on the trip which we completed early in February. As for the trip itself, we couldn’t have asked for better spring weather in early February! Under bright skies, and unusually warm weather, we made the une-ventful trip in just about four hours.

Limited edition “918 Spyder Turbo S”

Upon arriving at Beachwood Porsche, it was evident that the Penske Group took great pains in the layout and look of the facility. We entered what looked to be a brand new facility throughout (completed in August 2011). We come to find out that the facility was built on Porsche approved specs right down to the specific tiles used in the show-room, the special aluminum like façade, the color scheme, graphics, inside showroom trim, etc., etc., etc.

The very first impression was the care they took in adding all sorts of detail items that made for a truly impressive showroom. The adjacent repair/maintenance bays were no less impressive with its cavernous aircraft hanger sized facility, polished/painted shop floors, generously spaced lifts, hundreds of customer tires individually wrapped/labeled and stored on their own dedicated racks, and meticulously arranged and neat work areas. To say that the shop area resembles Penske Racing’s operations’ race shops is not too far a stretch.

Jim and I were likewise treated to a tour of the facility by Jason and Kellen. What a treat to see and examine nu-merous new Porsches (the new 991 which was more stunning in person than the pictures ever hope to convey; one very, very limited edition 2012 911 Turbo S in “918 Special Edition” Trim– supposedly only 30 of which were

Beachwood



We took a short break amidst our tour where Jason and Kellen treated Jim and me to lunch. It was a good oppor-tunity to sit and chat with Jason and Kellen. Again, Jason extended an invitation to perhaps have more of our Club members consider a road trip to Beachwood to check out the facilities. They’re willing to host a reception of sorts to welcome NRPCA members sometime later this year (they have catering capabilities in-house). One thought for consideration might be a weekend road trip of sorts for those interested, coupled with maybe catching an Indians ballgame and or a tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. If enough members were interested, might be fun!

What a refreshing way to experience a new level of Por-sche Dealership experience. Thank you to Dick Cott for suggesting the trip initially. Certainly, thanks to Beach-wood Porsche for their gracious hospitality. What a trip!

2012 Planning Meeting


We have over 50 people show up for the planning meeting on Sunday, February 19th at Terry Hills Golf Course. There was lots of smoozing followed by a very nice buffet lunch. After we were all fed we got down to the business of reviewing the events that are already on our calendar. Any event that is on our calendar now has been confirmed (people have committed to running the event). The total of things on the calendar for Feb-ruary to December is 51 so far. Others will be added as soon as the details are available. Watch for the hard cover Flatout in March with our calendar of events.

Want to run an event and don’t know how? Let someone on the board know and we will help you.

What a great year 2012 is going to be.

Are you ready for a yet another new challenge? Over the course of the coming 10 months I will include a pic-

ture in Flatout from a club event from 2011. Your job is to try and figure out where the hell we were.

Each month at the bottom of the picture of each event will be a mini form. I am using the mini form to help me tabulate the answers. Fill out the mini form and copy and paste it into an e-mail and send it to me at [email protected]. I will collect your answers and score them. At some point before the fall dinner I’ll tabu-late the answers and determine the winner. If there are multiple people with the same score the winner will be pulled from a hat and announced at the fall dinner. The contest winner will get a MAJOR AWARD! The mini form will look like this.

Your Name: _________________________

Your email: _________________________

Where the hell are we: _________________________

Name of the event: _________________________

Date of the event: _________________________

(1 point is awarded for each correct answer. That’s 3 points per picture, 30 points

total) for the year

So you think you have the rules down? Well then let’s begin.

SMALL PRINT WARNING!!!!!!!

Contest is for Niagara Region PCA members only. Only one submission per member per month will be accept-ed. Submissions will be accepted until the next month’s Flatout is available on-line. Void where prohibited, your mileage may vary ;-)

This months picture on next page

Where The Hell Are We ???


mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


So, Where The Hell Are We??

Fill out the form below and copy/paste it into an e-mail to [email protected]

Your Name: _________________________

Your e-mail: _________________________

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Where The Hell Are We ???


Hey Niagara Region,

Pedro is looking for topics to write about and asked me for help. He needs topics that can be applied across the Por-sche line not specific models. Topics like brakes and oil, which we already covered, are excellent choices. Do you

have a topic you’d like to know more about?

If you do have a topic send me an e-mail at:

[email protected] and I’ll get your request to Pedro.

Lets help Pedro help us.

Tom Lyons

Technically Speaking!


Soft Top Convertibles

by

Pedro P. Bonilla (Gold Coast Region PCA)

Being able to drop the top and drive “al fresco” is one of the greatest feel-ings in owning a Porsche cabriolet. The experience of sun and wind in your face, together with the enhanced sounds from your engine and the aromas of the countryside or of the exhaust and tire smoke of the car in front of you at the track, make owning and driving these open top cars very special.

The other side of the coin is that these cars also offer most of the coupe’s benefits when the weather or other conditions dictate the need for top up. So cab owners have the best of both worlds.

As you know, the material used on the Porsche cabriolets is a type of can-vas, but not all canvas is the same. The Haartz Corporation supplies the majority of all of the auto manufacturers with close to 30 different canvas and vinyl materials, each with different specs. The Porsche Boxster and Carrera Cabriolets use, as an OEM material, the special Sonnenland A5.0 fabric from Haartz.





This is an acoustically-enhanced, three-ply composite made of a surface singed acrylic twill weave outer fabric, a rubber or elastomer inner layer and a polyester (cloth) lining fabric. This unique construction of the mate-rial dramatically enhances in-cabin comfort when the top is up by reducing noise levels and providing sound attenuation over standard canvas materi-al aside from the obvious which is protection from the elements and allow-ing the HVAC system to operate normally.

Porsche engineers have worked to fine tune the acoustic properties of the cabriolets to provide maximum comfort inside the cabin with the soft top in the up position. In conjunction with the Haartz topping material a noise deadening acoustical padding is crafted to compliment the properties of the top’s material. This combination of materials provides passengers with state-of the-art comfort.





But, in order to enjoy for many years the added perks of the convertibles, there are a few things that you, as an owner, need do that coupe owners don’t.

A unique set of challenges comes with your special drop- top. The materi-al from which the top is made as well as the clear plastic window are far more delicate and vulnerable to the elements and in particular, to UV radi-ation than the rest of the painted surfaces of the car.

The best thing you can do for a brand new soft top is to protect it on day one, when it’s still clean and free of contaminants. The day you bring it home you should treat it with a good UV inhibiting product, paying special attention to its weakest part, the stitching.

The next best thing is to do it now.

Convertible tops should never be stored down when the material is wet. The fabric does not promote mildew growth on it’s own, but mildew can develop on dirt and grime when not removed. This is more important for warm, humid and dark environments.





When dust and dirt settle into the material’s weave, if left, over time will start to break down the fabric acting as sandpaper and cutting into the weave itself.

When cleaning your soft top, do NOT use detergent or other harsh chemi-cals. There are several products made specifically for cleaning soft tops, and one in particular, Ragg Topp is endorsed by Haartz and most converti-ble owners. Ragg Topp offers two basic products: a cleaner and a protect-ant.





To clean the top, do so in the shade or partial shade. If there are bird or tree droppings on the canvas, first vacuum with a soft brush attachment and then pre-soak the affected area with water. This will soften the depos-its. Many times a strong water stream is all that’s needed in order to get most of the dirt and grime off the top. When the deposits are tougher, you can spray the cleaner evenly over the complete soft top, letting it soak in from 2 to 20 minutes depending on how soiled it is, and then scrubbing lightly with a soft-bristle brush and finally rinsing with running water until the runoff is clear and no more cleaner remains on the material.

Washing with a mild soap, such as Ivory or Lux is also a safe alternative to the Ragg Topp cleaner, but not as effective.

Once the top is completely dry, it should be followed up with several coats of Ragg Topp Protectant which will waterproof the fabric and filter out most of the damaging UV rays from the sun. This protectant will make water bead on the canvas and will help maintain the top’s color over the years with minimum fading.

As of 2003 all of Porsche’s cabs now come with a glass window that re-quires no more maintenance than any other glass window, but prior to that year the top’s rear window was made of a flexible polyvinyl material which was sewn into the canvas allowing it to fold on itself. This clear material tends to fog and scratch and becomes the biggest complaint from cab owners. The fogging seen on polyvinyl windows happens when the plasti-cizers in the material evaporate due to exposure to UV light and heat from the sun. These plasticizers are what keep the plastic windows flexible and soft. So, the best way to prolong the clarity and flexibility of the clear plas-tic window is to keep the sun off the material as much as possible.





Whenever the car is stored outside, at least the clear plastic window if not the complete top or car should be protected with a cover.

Keeping the clear plastic window clean and using a protectant called Plex-us which also has UV inhibitors and special additives will extend the use and life of the window.

This product was developed for the acrylic canopies of fighter jets and does a great job of protecting the clear plastic window as well as the clear wind stop in our cars.

If your clear plastic window has minor scratches and yellowing it can be restored by using a high-quality plastic polishing compound such as “Plastix” by Meguiar’s.





When retracting a soft top with a plastic rear window, it is recommendable to stop the action mid way. Get out of the car and manually adjust the fab-ric and plastic so that no kinks or sharp angles are created when you con-tinue the folding operation. Even placing a soft towel or similar between the folds of the plastic window will help maintain it’s clarity, avoid scratches and prolong overall life.

If the air temperature is under 55 ºF do NOT try to lower or raise the top with a clear plastic window unless you first warm it up so that it becomes pliable. A hair dryer or placing a piece of black plastic over the window and leaving it under the bright sun for a few minutes will warm it up enough so that you can fold or unfold it. Not following these precautions may cause the window to crack and split open since the cold makes the plastic much more brittle.

If this happens the only solution is to replace, but since the window is sewn in most of the time the complete top’s cover needs to be replaced. There is an alternative which some people have used which is removing the material from the top’s frame and taking it to a yachting center that re-pairs marine canvas and having them cut out the old and sew in a new piece in its place.





There are also new alternatives for the older cabs with the flexible plastic windows. Several aftermarket manufacturers offer tops with a bonded glass window that can be installed onto the older top’s frames. These win-dows are a bit smaller than the original plastic window, and they are some-what more cumbersome for engine access in the case of the Boxsters, but they offer defrosting elements within the glass to quickly clear fog and melt ice and snow. Some of these aftermarket suppliers also offer the same OEM fabrics from Haartz on their products so you can have the same OEM quality even on a replacement top.

The top in my 1998 car is still original. I treat it with Ragg Topp protectant twice per year and it has not faded at all, even though it is a South Florida car.

Last year the stitching on the somewhat scratched plastic window failed and I decided to keep the top and sew in a new window myself, by hand, stitch-by-stitch. I did it, it came out very nice, but it just took too long.

At least I don’t have to sew in a new window for another 13 years!





To obtain additional information about convertible tops and more, please visit my website at: www.PedrosGarage.com.

Happy Porsche-ing,

Pedro

Haartz images used with permission from The Haartz Corporation.



FEBRUARY 2012

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2010 Porsche 911 Turbo


Historic Posters

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MEMBERSHIP 2012CHALLENGE

Help Niagara Region reach the 400 member mark by the end of 2012

RENEW & RECRUIT

Renew your PCA membership on a timely basis.

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